Initially, Elsie does not live with her parents but with her paternal grandfather, his second wife (Elsie's step-grandmother), and their six children: Adelaide, Lora, Louise, Arthur, Walter, and Enna. Elsie's mother died soon after giving birth to her, leaving her in the care of her grandfather. Before her father comes back she becomes good friends with Rose Allison, with whom she studies the Bible. Her father was in Europe until she was almost eight years old as the first book begins.

The first Elsie books deal with a constant moral conflict between Christian principles and familial loyalty. Elsie's father is a strict disciplinarian who dictates inflexible rules by which his daughter must live. Any infraction is severely and often unjustly punished. In her father's absence Elsie has become a Christian and abides by what she has been taught is Biblical law, especially the Ten Commandments (also known as the Decalogue). Her father regards this as ludicrous and in some cases as insolence. Elsie feels she must obey the Word of God before that of her father and can only obey her father when his orders do not conflict with Scripture. For example, Elsie's father attempts to force her to perform such "sinful" acts as playing secular music or reading fiction -- "a book which was only fit for week-day reading, because it had nothing at all in it about God" -- on Sunday, finally resulting in her having a complete nervous breakdown. The entire plot of the second book, Elsie's Holidays at Roselands, revolves around his refusing to speak to her -- or allow anyone else to -- for several months, because she is more obedient to God than to her father. Her father later becomes a Christian, marries Rose Allison, and has two more children, Horace, Jr. and Rose, also called Rosie. Three years pass, and Edward Travilla, who is some years older and has had his eyes on Elsie for a long time, proposes to Elsie, and the next year they enjoy a quiet wedding. While vacationing in Europe, the Civil War begins, and they remain there until it ends. After their return from Europe, Elsie's life falls into quiet patterns until the death of her husband, and her children grow up and marry (all except Herbert and Walter).

By the dates given in Elsie's Womanhood and Elsie's Widowhood, Elsie's birth date can be traced to about 1837. Elsie also has some more distant relatives, who are recurring characters in the series, including the Keiths, the Lilburns, and the Landreths.

Later in Elsie's life, the books focus less on Elsie herself, and mostly deal with Lulu's constant conflict with her fearful temper. When Violet is first married to Lulu's father Captain Raymond, Lulu creates a problem by refusing to obey her new mother. Another time, she hurts and nearly kills her baby sister, causing her father to beat her with a riding whip. When Lulu attends school in Louisiana, her music instructor taps her with a ruler, causing her to strike him over the head with a book. When Lulu refuses to comply with Mr. Dinsmore's order that she go back to the signor, Lulu holds out, causing her to be cut off from the family circle. Her bad behavior causes Rosie to sympathize with her sister Vi for having such burdens, and Rosie often teases Lulu into a passion.

A new Elsie Dinsmore series of eight books was adapted and abridged from the old one and published by Zondervan/Mission City Press in 1999 and dubbed "Elsie Dinsmore:A Life of Faith". The language has been somewhat modernized and the African American characters no longer speak in dialect (e.g. "Da bressed chile" as opposed to "The blessed child"). While the plot-lines still hinge on Elsie's attempts to gain her father's love while maintaining her Christian ethics and refusing to report bullying incidents (usually by Arthur or Miss Day, the governess), some of Horace's actions have been toned down and the infamous scene in which he drags her off to beat her with a riding crop no longer exists. There is a line of dolls and a Bible study curriculum based on the new series. The original books have been reprinted as "Original Elsie Classics" by many publishers.

When Elsie comes of age she marries her father's good friend Edward Travilla. He has been her knight in shining armor who constantly helps her when other people are cruel to her; he has loved her for a long time. They have 8 children: Elsie, Edward, Violet, Harold, Herbert, Lily (who dies at age seven), Rosie, and Walter.

Elsie Dinsmore's eldest daughter Elsie becomes engaged to her neighbor's nephew, Lester Leland. Edward Jr. goes to Europe with young Elsie when Lester Leland falls ill. While in Europe, Edward Jr. meets the woman who will become his wife, Zoe Love. He marries her just before her father dies. They later have twins: Edward Lawrence (Laurie) and Lily. While they are away, Violet meets and falls in love with Captain Levis Raymond. He has three children by his first wife: Max, Lucilla (called Lulu), and Gracie; the rest of the books are mainly about them. Together, Captain Raymond and Violet have two children: Elsie and Edward (Ned). Rosie marries a college friend of her brother's whom she met on vacation, William Croly. Lulu Raymond marries Chester Dinsmore, and they have one child together before the series ends. Max marries his step uncle's orphaned niece Evelyn Leland.

Roselands - A plantation owned by Elsie's grandfather. Elsie lives here during the first two books.

The Oaks - A plantation owned by Elsie's father. Elsie moves here with her father the year after he returns from Europe.

Ion - A plantation owned by Edward Travilla and his mother. Elsie moves here after she marries Edward. The majority of the books take place here.

Viamede - A plantation that belonged to Elsie's mother; Elsie inherits it when she turns 21.

Woodburn - A plantation owned by Elsie's son-in-law, Levis Raymond.

The plantations are said to be set in Union, Virginia, except for Viamede, which is in Louisiana, not far from New Orleans. Other less-visited plantations include:

Crag Cottage - Cottage belonging to Evelyn Leland.

The Laurels - A plantation owned by Elsie's sister Rose Lacey and her husband.

The Pines

Ashwood

The Crags (not related to Crag Cottage) - A plantion owned by Phillip and Lucy (Carrington) Ross. Elsie and her children (except Rosie and Walter, who were born later in the book) visit the Crags in Elsie's Children.

Elsie Dinsmore - the only child of Horace and Elsie Dinsmore. She marries Edward Travilla Jr., and is the mother of Elsie, Horace Edward, Violet, Harold, Herbert, Lily, Rose, and Walter Travilla.

Horace Dinsmore - Elsie's father. He is married first to Elsie Grayson, by whom he had Elsie, then to Rose Allison, by whom he had Horace III and Rose Dinsmore.

Edward Travilla Jr. - son of Edward and Violet Travilla, married Elsie Dinsmore, and fathered her children. He dies in Elsie's Widowhood.

Rose Allison Dinsmore - second child in the Allison family, married Horace Dinsmore, mother of Horace, Jr. and Rose Dinsmore.

Enna Dinsmore Percival Johnson - seventh child of Arthur Dinsmore, married first to Richard Percival, then Mr. Johnson. She is the spoiled pet of the Dinsmore family, and she is mean to Elsie in both childhood and adulthood. She mothers four children: Richard Jr. and Molly, by Percival, and Robert 'Bob' and Elizabeth 'Betty'. She is rendered mentally unstable after a carriage accident with her father, and in the first chapter of Grandmother Elsie it is mentioned that she has died at the home of her oldest daughter.

Arthur Dinsmore Jr. - fifth child of Arthur Dinsmore, Horace's half-brother. He is very mean to Elsie in her childhood, and is killed in the Civil War.

Thomas Jackson alias Bromly Egerton - one of Arthur Dinsmore's friends. He tries to win Elsie's hand in marriage so he can have her inheritance. He nearly succeeds, but Horace finds out before he can convince her to run away with him. He is killed in the Civil War.

Horace Edward Travilla - the second child of Edward and Elsie Travilla. He marries Zoe Love shortly before her father's death and they have twins: Lily (after his sister) and Edward Lawrence.

Violet Raymond - Elsie and Edward Travilla's third child. She marries the widower Captain Levis Raymond and becomes the stepmother of Max, Lulu, and Grace. She has two children: Elsie and Edward Raymond.

Harold Allison Travilla - the fourth child of Edward and Elsie Travilla. He eventually marries his sister's stepdaughter, Grace Raymond.

Herbert Travilla - Edward and Elsie's fifth child. He becomes a physician and after the first books he is rarely mentioned.

Lily Travilla - Edward and Elsie's sixth child who dies at age 7.

Rose Travilla Croly - Edward and Elsie's seventh and youngest child. She marries her brother's friend, William Croly. She is very mean to Lucilla.

Walter Travilla - the youngest child of Edward and Elsie, named after Walter Dinsmore.

Lucilla "Lulu" Raymond Dinsmore - the oldest daughter of Grace and Levis Raymond, and stepdaughter to Violet Raymond. She is known for having an incredibly bad temper, and as a little girl she is punished several times in each book by her father. She marries Chester Dinsmore. Most of the later books mainly focus on her.

Max Raymond - only son of Grace and Levis Raymond, and stepson of Violet Raymond. He marries Evelyn Leland, his stepcousin and his sister's best friend.

Chloe (no surname given), sometimes "Aunt Chloe" or "Mammy" - Elsie's nurse since infancy. Describes herself as "only a poor old black sinner, but de good Lord Jesus, He loves me jes de same as if I was white".

O. Henry wrote a parody of the Elsie books called Elsie in New York[1]. In this short story, Elsie (ostensibly a different Elsie, but the similarity to Finley's Elsie is overwhelmingly obvious) is portrayed as a naive young woman who has gone to New York to work for her father's former employer. Elsie is constantly presented with opportunities for honest work and relationships on her first day in the city, but always prevented by the minions of Society and Morality, such as the police or fictional activist groups like the 'Association for the Prevention of Jobs Being Put Up on Working Girls Looking for Jobs.'

When she finds her father's former boss, he is a lecherous rich playboy. There the story stops, allowing the reader to fill in the rest. The story pokes fun at Elsie Dinsmore's take on the world, where as long as one has faith, and follows the lead of those in moral authority, one will be rewarded.

In the first two books Elsie plays with and visits several friends and neighbors and their children. Most of them had died by the time Christmas with Grandma Elsie was written. Herbert died of a broken heart when Elsie rejected his marriage proposal.

The Elsie series is mentioned in Chapter 19 of Jo of the Chalet School, the second book of a school series by Elinor M. Brent Dyer. Josephine Bettany, the main character, an avid reader, lies injured in bed after a skating accident. When Jo complains that she has read everything she has, Dr. Jem offers her the Elsie books. Jo accepts them doubtfully, proclaiming that they were about an 'awfully good little girl' and there were 'dozens' of them, but is soon digging eagerly into Elsie's saga. (The books featured include Elsie Dinsmore,Elsie's Holidays at Roselands,Elsie's Girlhood,Elsie's Womanhood,Elsie's Motherhood, and Elsie's Children.) Ultimately, Josephine decides to carry on the series by writing about Elsie's children (Eddie, Harold, and Herbert).

The Elsie series is also mentioned in Emily Climbs, the second book of a series by Lucy Maud Montgomery, when Emily is told in a derisive comment by Mr. Carpenter to "go and read the Elsie books!" Elsie is also mentioned in Maud Hart Lovelace's book Betsy in Spite of Herself. When Betsy's friend Tib buys them Sunday-evening theater tickets, Betsy remembers how Elsie Dinsmore would have handled what she considered a somewhat shocking proposal, then dismisses it--"[she] had never thought much of Elsie Dinsmore."

Further, Elsie Dinsmore is mentioned in The Sky is Falling by Kit Pearson; it's the one book Norah finds to read at her new home.

In the 1937 film "Man-Proof," starring Myrna Loy and Franchot Tone, Tone's character sarcastically remarks "Elsie Dinsmore's in love," commenting on Loy's stated plan to seduce her friend's husband, with whom she'd had a previous relationship.

Approximately 80 minutes into the 1951 movie People Will Talk (in the "railroad" scene), Mrs. Praetorius breaks into tears and compares herself in her current emotional state to "a kind of idiot Elsie Dinsmore."

In the 1954 novel The Bad Seed by William March, the homicidal 8-year-old Rhoda Penmark reads Elsie Dinsmore "as though she hoped to find there an understanding of those puzzling values she saw in others--values which, though she tried her best to stimulate them, were so curiously absent in herself." Approximately 31 minutes into the 1956 movie The Bad Seed (in a scene taking place one day after the mysterious drowning of her classmate), Rhoda Penmark, played by Patty McCormack, proudly announces that she will be reading her new book, Elsie Dinsmore, which she has won at Sunday School.

Approximately 25 minutes into the classic play/film The Man Who Came to Dinner, Sheldon Whiteside, played by Monty Woolley, refers to his secretary Maggie as Elsie Dinsmore in the following line, said in a sarcastic tone: "Come back at eight-thirty. We'll play three-handed (Cribbage) with Elsie Dinsmore."[1]

"Pa's dead and gone and I haven't stopped hating him. What kind of unnatural daughter's that make me? A girl is supposed to love her father." "Sure, in those Elsie Dinsmore stories or someplace. We all grew up on that stuff, and it poisoned our souls." (479-480)